Tarantulas looking for love in California; hikers warned

Published: Friday, September 2nd, 2016 at 8:23am

Updated: Friday, September 2nd, 2016 at 8:23am

This Aug. 12, 2013 photo provided by the National Park Service shows a tarantula at the Rancho Sierra Vista park site, within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area near Newbury Park, Calif. Tarantulas are out looking for love, and hikers in Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains are warned to watch out for the hairy spiders. Tarantula mating season has begun, and it will last through the end of October, the National Park Service said Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. (National Park Service via AP)

Because females typically stay inside, if a hiker comes across a tarantula on a footpath, it’s probably a male on the lookout for a mate, experts say. Males have been known to search for up to four miles to find a female.

Though they have fangs and carry poison, tarantulas are not considered a serious threat to humans.

The spiders move slowly so hikers can take pictures, but humans shouldn’t touch or otherwise harass the creatures, said Kate Kuykendall, a spokeswoman for the Santa Monica Mountains.

While female tarantulas can live for up to 25 years, the average lifespan of the male is only seven or eight years, so their annual chances to spread their genes is limited. To make matters worse, female tarantulas have been known to eat the males if they linger too long after copulation, the Times said.

According to the park service, mating occurs when the male approaches the female’s burrow and taps on the web strands outside the entrance. If the female is willing, she’ll come outside and receive his sperm, which he deposits on a web that she then receives and uses to fertilize her eggs.